Contraceptive pill 'put woman in coma and left her unable to have children'

Trudi Banning, an Army veteran from Leamington Spa who ended up in a coma

Share

Get daily updates directly to your inbox

Thank you for subscribing!

Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email

At just 18 years old, Trudi Banning enrolled in the Army, and was looking forward to dedicating her life to a job she loved.

But after just five years, her dream would come to an almost tragic end.

Trudi collapsed at an army base in Oxfordshire.

Rushed to hospital, and fighting to keep her alive, surgeons discovered that her intestine was infected with gangrene as they carried out an emergency operation.

After suffering two blood clots, 80 per cent of her intestine had been starved of oxygen and simply died inside her.

It had to be removed.

Pictured Trudi Banning an Army veteran from Leamington Spa who ended up in a coma for 6months in the 1990's after taking the contraceptive pill and has been left infertile because of it.

For six months Trudi was in a coma and her devastated father was told that she might never wake up.

It was only later that doctors would put down her near-fatal illness to the contraceptive pill, Femodene, that she has been taking since she began her army training in 1991.

“It was terrifying,” says Trudi, now 42 and living in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. “When I woke up from the coma I didn’t know where I was.

“I was scared, and had tubes coming out of my throat, chest, and even between my toes.

“I couldn’t walk because I hadn’t used my legs for six months, and had to learn to walk and talk again."

Her story follows the death of Fallan Kurek, who died, aged 21, after taking the Pill. The Tamworth teaching assistant had only been taking the contraception for a few weeks when she suffered a fatal blood clot.

Trudi, who was a supply specialist in the armed forces, collapsed while working at a military base in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

Her sergeant called the ambulance, and she was taken to a military hospital in Swindon where they discovered her digestive system was infested with gangrene.

“I didn’t have any symptoms in the days leading up to it,” recalls Trudi. “The only thing I noticed was a niggling pain.

“I went to the medical centre, where the doctor reluctantly agreed to send me for some blood tests.

“But I collapsed before I could get there.”

Pictured Trudi Banning an Army veteran from Leamington Spa who ended up in a coma for 6months in the 1990's after taking the contraceptive pill and has been left infertile because of it.

Trudi claims that she was told to start taking the Pill by the Army while training at barracks in Guildford.

“We did what we were told,” says Trudi. “I was there to stay, so I started the Pill.

“There was a group of around 18 women. We were weighed, they took our blood pressure, and then they dished them out like sweets.”

The Army has previously denied it had a policy of issuing contraception to female recruits.

Regardless, Trudi took the Pill for the next four and a half years. She had no apparent side-effects, except putting on weight.

But now Trudi wants to warn women that taking the Pill can cause life-changing side effects, or even death.

“If I hadn’t been in the forces, and had access to their care, I would be dead,” she admits.

“I was on 13 life-support machines, and in a coma for six months.

“They told my Dad not to just think of taking it day by day, or hour by hour, but rather minute by minute.

“Parts of my intestine were sent off for testing at Oxford University and they found the gangrene was overactive with oestrogen.”

Trudi lived to tell the tale, others have not.

Distraught after what had happened, Trudi joined 100 other women in taking a case to the High Court against the pill manufacturers Organon Laboratories, Schering Healthcare and Wyeth.

Trudi Banning (centre), from Leamington Spa, Yvonne Berry (right), from Bexley in Kent and their solicitor Rosie Houghton stand outside the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, in 2002 after losing a case against pharmaceutical company Organon

The victims claimed that the new third generation pills were of greater risk to women, and they should have been warned about such increased risk.

Other claimants included Yvonne Berry, whose daughter Nancy died at the age of 16, after taking Femondene for just a month.

But the case collapsed in 2002 when Justice Mackay ruled in favour of the pharmaceutical companies, ruling there was no evidence that the pills had an increased risk of causing blood clots.

That ruling is at odds with a study by the University of Nottingham just published in the British Medical Journal, which found that pills containing one of the newer types of progestogen hormone (drospirenone, desogestrel, gestodene, and cyproterone) are associated with an increased risk of VTE (venous thromboembolism) compared to pills containing older progestogens.

Now all Trudi hopes for is that someone will come forward to champion their case.

“I feel the same as the other girls in the court case,” she says. “If someone would just come forward and help us, maybe we could get somewhere.

“We just want justice.”

After Trudi finally recovered, she was discharged from the Army on medical grounds.

She was left without a career and must now be on medication for the rest of her life.

Trudi was also devastated after learning her dream of becoming a mother would never be realised – surgeons had to remove her ovaries after the infection spread.

“I lost my career, and will never have children,” says Trudi. “But every time I see that another girl has died, like poor Fallan now, it really hurts.

“Every time that I see the pill has taken another victim I feel angry and upset.”

But for now all Trudi can do is warn other women that the contraceptive pill can have dangerous side-effects.

“The Pill can be a killer,” she says. “But they say it doesn’t kill. How many more women have to die before they admit it is a danger?

“How many more women have to die before people sit up and listen?

“I don’t want to see any more young girls lose their lives.”

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, previously said women should continue to take their contraceptive pill after a 2014 review deemed the contraceptive safe.

A spokesman said: “The safety of contraceptive pills was reviewed at European level in 2014 and the review confirmed that the risk of blood clots with all contraceptives is small. The benefits of any combined hormonal contraceptive far outweigh the risk of serious side-effects.

“Prescribers and women should be aware of the major risk factors for blood clots and the key signs and symptoms. If women have questions, they should discuss them with their GP or contraceptive provider at their next routine appointment, but should keep taking their contraceptive until they have done so.”